Nitrogen fertilizer application alters the root endophyte bacterial microbiome in maize plants, but not in the stem or rhizosphere soil

Alejandra Miranda Carrazco Yendi Navarro-Noya Bram Govaerts Nele Verhulst Luc Dendooven (2022, [Artículo])

Plant-associated microorganisms that affect plant development, their composition, and their functionality are determined by the host, soil conditions, and agricultural practices. How agricultural practices affect the rhizosphere microbiome has been well studied, but less is known about how they might affect plant endophytes. In this study, the metagenomic DNA from the rhizosphere and endophyte communities of root and stem of maize plants was extracted and sequenced with the “diversity arrays technology sequencing,” while the bacterial community and functionality (organized by subsystems from general to specific functions) were investigated in crops cultivated with or without tillage and with or without N fertilizer application. Tillage had a small significant effect on the bacterial community in the rhizosphere, but N fertilizer had a highly significant effect on the roots, but not on the rhizosphere or stem. The relative abundance of many bacterial species was significantly different in the roots and stem of fertilized maize plants, but not in the unfertilized ones. The abundance of N cycle genes was affected by N fertilization application, most accentuated in the roots. How these changes in bacterial composition and N genes composition might affect plant development or crop yields has still to be unraveled.

Bacterial Community Structure DArT-Seq Bacterial Community Functionality Genes Involved in N Cycling CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES MAIZE RHIZOSPHERE STEMS NITROGEN FERTILIZERS

Pathways from information to the adoption of conservation agriculture practices in Malawi and Tanzania

Paswel Marenya Dil Bahadur Rahut (2023, [Artículo])

To reduce agriculture's carbon, land and water footprint, the diffusion of conservation farming methods is one commonly cited proposition. Yet the process of translating available information on new conservation farming methods into farmers' practices is often a black box in many studies. This understanding is critical to inform strategies for scaling these complex, knowledge-intensive, but necessary practices for improving agriculture's resource and climate balance sheet. By implementing a series of mediation analysis using data from 700 households in Malawi and 930 households in Tanzania, this study examines how an improved understanding of conservation agriculture (CA) principles is an important mediator in the pathway from extension contact to the adoption of two of the CA practices examined. For the adoption of conservation tillage, the share of the mediated treatment effect was in the 31.5–34.4% range, while it was 31.6–46.9% for the adoption of soil cover (mulching). Our results suggest that unless learning from external sources strongly correlates with improved farmers' technical understanding of new farming practices, private learning by doing must be a critical adjunct to other avenues of learning. Beyond the basic promotional goals, improving farmers' technical know-how needs to be the centerpiece of holistic efforts in support of conservation farming and similar knowledge-intensive practices necessary for agriculture's sustinability goals.

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE SMALLHOLDERS AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES FIELD EXPERIMENTATION

Analyzing antifragility among smallholder farmers in Bihar, India: An assessment of farmers' vulnerability and the strengths of positive deviants

Roos Adelhart Toorop Santiago Lopez-Ridaura ML JAT Deepak Bijarniya Jeroen Groot (2023, [Artículo])

Farmers around the world are increasingly vulnerable: climate variability is identified as the primary stressor, but unfavorable biophysical circumstances and disturbances in the socioeconomic domain (labor dynamics and price volatility) also affect farm management and production. To deal with these disturbances, adaptations are recognized as essential. Antifragility acknowledges that adaptations and volatility are inherent characteristics of complex systems and abandons the idea of returning to the pre-disturbance system state. Instead, antifragility recognizes that disturbances can trigger reorganization, enabling selection and removal of weaker system features and allowing the system to evolve toward a better state. In this study, we assessed the vulnerability of different types of smallholder farms in Bihar, India, and explored the scope for more antifragile farming systems that can 'bounce back better' after disturbances. Accumulation of stocks, creation of optionality (i.e., having multiple options for innovation) and strengthening of farmer autonomy were identified as criteria for antifragility. We had focus group discussions with in total 92 farmers and found that most expressed themselves to be vulnerable: they experienced challenges but had limited adaptive capacity to change their situation. They mostly made short-term decisions to cope with or mitigate urgent challenges but did not engage in strategic planning driven by longer-term objectives. Instead, they waited for governmental support to improve their livelihoods. Despite being confronted with similar challenges, four positive deviant farmers showed to be more antifragile: their diverse farming systems were abundant in stocks and optionality, and the farmers were distinguished in terms of their autonomy, competence, and connectedness to peers, the community, and markets. To support antifragility among regular farmers, adaptations at policy level may be required, for example, by shifting from a top-down toward a bottom-up adaptation and innovation regime where initiative and cooperation are encouraged. With a more autonomous orientation, farmers' intrinsic motivation is expected to increase, enabling transitions at the farm level. In this way, connected systems can be developed which are socioeconomically and biophysically adaptive. When practices, knowledge, and skills are continuously developed, an antifragile system with ample stocks and optionality may evolve over time.

Autonomy Adaptive Capacity Smallholder Farmers CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA POLICIES SMALLHOLDERS AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES

Contrasting spatial patterns in active-fire and fire-suppressed mediterranean climate old-growth mixed conifer forests

Danny L. Fry  (2014, [Artículo])

In Mediterranean environments in western North America, historic fire regimes in frequent-fire conifer forests are highly variable both temporally and spatially. This complexity influenced forest structure and spatial patterns, but some of this diversity has been lost due to anthropogenic disruption of ecosystem processes, including fire. Information from reference forest sites can help management efforts to restore forests conditions that may be more resilient to future changes in disturbance regimes and climate. In this study, we characterize tree spatial patterns using four-ha stem maps from four old-growth, Jeffrey pine-mixed conifer forests, two with active-fire regimes in northwestern Mexico and two that experienced fire exclusion in the southern Sierra Nevada. Most of the trees were in patches, averaging six to 11 trees per patch at 0.007 to 0.014 ha-1, and occupied 27-46% of the study areas. Average canopy gap sizes (0.04 ha) covering 11-20% of the area were not significantly different among sites. The putative main effects of fire exclusion were higher densities of single trees in smaller size classes, larger proportion of trees (≥56%) in large patches (≥10 trees), and decreases in spatial complexity. While a homogenization of forest structure has been a typical result from fire exclusion, some similarities in patch, single tree, and gap attributes were maintained at these sites. These within-stand descriptions provide spatially relevant benchmarks from which to manage for structural heterogeneity in frequent-fire forest types.

article, climate, controlled study, ecosystem fire history, forest structure, geographic distribution, geographic mapping, land use, mathematical computing, mathematical model, Mexico, spatial analysis, taiga, United States, comparative study, conife CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA

Conservation agriculture practices towards regenerative agriculture

ML JAT (2021, [Objeto de congreso])

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES REGENERATION

Más allá de los colores del amaranto

JESUS ALFREDO ARAUJO LEON Víctor Aguilar Hernández Ivonne Sánchez del Pino SERGIO RUBEN PERAZA SANCHEZ ROLFFY RUBEN ORTIZ ANDRADE Ligia Guadalupe Brito Argáez (2022, [Artículo])

El amaranto tiene una amplia gama de colores atrayentes, desde amarillos, violetas hasta rojos intensos. Esta heterogeneidad de tonalidades llamó la atención de civilizaciones que se desarrollaron en todas las latitudes del continente americano, como es el caso del imperio azteca que integró este cultivo a su cosmovisión ceremonial para ofrendas a diferentes deidades, dejando una herencia prehispánica cautivadora de su historia. Más allá de los colores, el presente trabajo tiene como objetivo abordar las propiedades nutricionales y beneficios para la salud humana de la diversidad de fitoquímicos que son responsables de los interesantes colores del amaranto.

AMARANTHACEAE AMARANTHUS BETALAINAS METABOLITOS SECUNDARIOS MEXICO SALUD HUMANA BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA VEGETAL (BOTÁNICA) DESARROLLO VEGETAL DESARROLLO VEGETAL

Efectos del cambio climático en los recursos hídricos de México : volumen III : atlas de vulnerabilidad hídrica en México ante el cambio climático

Polioptro Martinez-Austria CARLOS PATIÑO GOMEZ (2010, [Libro])

Tabla de contenido: 1. Índice de vulnerabilidad social -- 2. Escenarios climáticos en México proyectados para el siglo XXI -- 3. Impacto del cambio climático en la temporada -- 4. Vulnerabilidad hídrica global: aguas superficiales -- 5. Vulnerabilidad de la agricultura de riego en México ante el cambio climático -- 6. Calidad del agua.

Este libro, que se suma al acervo generado y acumulado en material de cambio climático en neustro país, más que mostrar una visión catastrófista, es una invitación a la reflexión sobre la necesidad de tomar medidas que permitan reducir la vulnerabilidad de nuestro país y afrontar, de la manera más adecuada, las amenazas relacionadas con el cambio climático.

1. Índice de vulnerabilidad social -- 2. Escenarios climáticos en México proyectados para el siglo XXI -- 3. Impacto del cambio climático en la temporada -- 4. Vulnerabilidad hídrica global: aguas superficiales -- 5. Vulnerabilidad de la agricultura de riego en México ante el cambio climático -- 6. Calidad del agua.

Cambio climático Efectos del clima Recursos hídricos Vulnerabilidad hídrica Atlas México CIENCIAS FÍSICO MATEMÁTICAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA

Especies de abejas sin aguijón en áreas urbanas en Yucatán. Parte II: nidos con entradas poco visibles

JOSÉ CHAVIER DE ARAUJO FREITAS (2023, [Artículo])

Existen especies de abejas sin aguijón que tienen las entradas de sus nidos poco visibles: en grietas de cavidades de árboles, paredes de construcciones urbanas, muchas veces mimetizadas y haciéndolas muy sensibles a la destrucción de estos, al momento de hacer alguna poda de árbol, remodelación o construcción. Algunos géneros de abejas en áreas urbanas y alrededores de ciudades de Yucatán que podemos identificar en esta situación son: Trigonisca, Plebeia, Cephalotrigona, y la especie Frieseomelitta nigra. La poca notoriedad de sus entradas las hace muy vulnerables a ser destruidas en ambientes antropizados.

ABEJAS SIN AGUIJON NIDOS POCO VISIBLES POLINIZADORES YUCATAN MEXICO BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) INVERTEBRADOS INVERTEBRADOS

Un registro nuevo para la península de Yucatán y México: Pavonia paludicola (Malvaceae)

GERMAN CARNEVALI FERNANDEZ CONCHA José Luis Tapia Muñoz Ivón Mercedes Ramírez Morillo RODRIGO STEFANO DUNO (2023, [Artículo])

Recientemente se publicó un reporte nuevo de una especie de la misma familia del algodón (Malvaceae), para el estado de Yucatán que resultó también un nuevo registro para la Provincia Biótica Península de Yucatán y para México. Pavonia paludicola se conoce solamente de una población en todo México y está muy cerca del hermoso pueblo de Dzilam de Bravo. En este texto se resume este descubrimiento.

DZILAM DE BRAVO MALVOIDEAE MEXICO NOVEDAD FLORISTICA YUCATAN BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA VEGETAL (BOTÁNICA) TAXONOMÍA VEGETAL TAXONOMÍA VEGETAL

Agua, gobierno y minería: ¿Por qué el medio ambiente no es prioridad en la agenda pública?

ANA MARIA HERRERA CRUZ JUAN ANTONIO BARRON SEVILLA (2022, [Artículo])

Valorar la escasez del agua, la regulación gubernamental y a la minería, es poner en la balanza la famosa relación costo beneficio. No es necesario ser un erudito para saber cuál es la elección de nuestros gobiernos Prevaleciendo en este caso la economía y un aparente desarrollo contra la preservación del medio ambiente. Lo que resulta urgente es un nuevo planteamiento de prioridades para la resolución de problemas que aquejan el acceso al agua como derecho humano.

ESCASEZ DEL AGUA IMPACTO MINERO MEXICO POLITICAS AMBIENTALES INGENIERÍA Y TECNOLOGÍA CIENCIAS TECNOLÓGICAS TECNOLOGÍA MINERA OTRAS OTRAS